30 WORLD SPORT Hamilton fastest in US practice Gulf Daily News Saturday, 1st November 2014 AUSTIN, Texas: Formula One championship leader Lewis Hamilton and his title rival team mate Nico Rosberg were separated by mere fumes yesterday in a familiar Mercedes one-two in U.S. Grand Prix practice. Email: [email protected] US GRAND PRIX FREE PRACTICE TIMES 2nd session: 1. Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes 1:39.085, 2. Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes 1:39.088, 3. Fernando Alonso (ESP) Ferrari 1:40.189, 4. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS) Red Bull 1:40.390, 5. Felipe Massa (BRA) Williams 1:40.457, 6. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Ferrari 1:40.543, 7. Daniil Kvyat (RUS) Toro Rosso 1:40.631, 8. Kevin Magnussen (DEN) McLaren 1:40.641, 9. Jenson Button (GBR) McLaren 1:40.698, 10. Nico Hulkenberg (GER) Force India 1:40.800, 11. Valtteri Bottas (FIN) Williams 1:40.828, 12. Romain Grosjean (FRA) Lotus 1:41.054, 13. Jean-Eric Vergne (FRA) Toro Rosso 1:41.110, 14. Sergio Perez (MEX) Force India 1:41.123, 15. Pastor Maldonado (VEN) Lotus 1:41.158, 16. Adrian Sutil (GER) Sauber 1:41.332, 17. Esteban Gutierrez (MEX) Sauber 1:41.420, 18. Sebastian Vettel (GER) Red Bull 1:43.980. Just three thousandths of a second separated the two at the end of the day, even if Hamilton ended up top of the timesheets in both sessions despite an apparent gearbox problem that sidelined him towards the end of the second. 1st session: 1. Lewis Hamilton (GBR) Mercedes 1:39.941, 2. Nico Rosberg (GER) Mercedes The Briton, chasing his fifth win in 1:40.233, 3. Jenson Button (GBR) McLaren 1:40.319, 4. Daniil Kvyat (RUS) Toro Rosso a row and 10th of the season, set the 1:40.887, 5. Kevin Magnussen (DEN) McLaren 1:40.987, 6. Fernando Alonso (ESP) Ferrari morning pace with a time of one minute 1:41.065, 7. Sebastian Vettel (GER) Red Bull 1:41.463, 8. Felipe Nasr (BRA) Williams 1:41.545, 39.941 seconds at the undulating Circuit 9. Nico Hulkenberg (GER) Force India 1:41.722, 10. Max Verstappen (NED) Toro Rosso of the Americas. 1:41.785, 11. Felipe Massa (BRA) Williams 1:41.907, 12. Kimi Raikkonen (FIN) Ferrari 1:41.965, Rosberg, 17 points behind his team 13. Pastor Maldonado (VEN) Lotus 1:42.329, 14. Adrian Sutil (GER) Sauber 1:42.333, 15. Sermate with three races to come worth gio Perez (MEX) Force India 1:42.359, 16. Esteban Gutierrez (MEX) Sauber 1:42.516, 17. Dana maximum 100 points, was 0.292 iel Ricciardo (AUS) Red Bull 1:42.598, 18. Romain Grosjean (FRA) Lotus 1:43.229. seconds slower than the 2008 world champion. Hamilton then produced a 1:39.085 in the afternoon, a massive 1.1 seconds quicker than third placed Ferrari driver Fernando Alonso. The difference between the two was the same as that between Alonso and 16th placed Adrian Sutil. McLaren’s Jenson Button had been third fastest in the opening session with just 18 cars on track after Caterham and Marussia went into administration and failed to make the journey to Texas. Mercedes, who have already wrapped up the constructors’ title, can equal McLaren’s 1988 record, set by Alain Prost US GP TIMETABLE and the late Ayrton Senna, of 10 one-two (All Bahrain time) finishes in a season TODAY in Sunday’s race. Practice 3 6pm - 7pm Back then there Qualifying 9pm were only 16 races, compared to the curTOMORROW rent 19. Race 11pm Toro Rosso’s Russian rookie Daniil Kvyat, who graduates to the main Red Bull team next year in place of departing four times champion Sebastian Vettel, was fourth fastest in the morning ahead of Denmark’s Kevin Magnussen in the other McLaren. n Ferrari mechanics run to retrieve the stalled car of Ferrari driver Kimi Raikkonen in the pits during the first practice sesThe order shifted after lunch however, sion. Inset, Mercedes driver Hamilton waits for the start of the first practice session with Red Bull’s Australian Daniel Ricciardo fourth after a power unit problem Horner assured the fans that the Ger- to be very careful with our mileage, he gave Dutch teenager Max Verstappen anhampered him earlier in the day and Bra- man, who was seventh fastest on Friday has to get through three race weekends other run. He was 10th fastest. zilian Felipe Massa fifth for Williams. morning and then 18th after doing only with this unit.” Drivers also trialled a new ‘virtual safeVettel will start tomorrow’s race from 13 laps in the afternoon, would not sit Williams’ Brazilian reserve Felipe Nasr ty car’ system, being tested as a means of the pitlane after exceeding his allocation out qualifying. completed 19 laps in the car Valtteri Bottas reducing speeds electronically across the of power units. “We’ll certainly be taking part in qual- will race on Sunday and was eighth fastest field when yellow flags are waved withHowever Red Bull principal Christian ifying,” he told the BBC. “But we have in the morning session while Toro Rosso out introducing the real vehicle. Navarro beats Pironkova to reach semis SOFIA, Bulgaria: Carla Suarez Navarro advanced to the semifinals of the season-ending Tournament of Champions by beating Tsvetana Pironkova 7-6 (2), 6-1 yesterday. The fifth-seeded Spanish player was under pressure knowing that only a straightset victory would secure her spot in the semis. Home favorite Pironkova tried hard but failed to convert two set points at 6-5 in the tiebreaker. Suarez Navarro took a quick 5-0 lead in the second set and allowed Pironkova just one game before clinching the set and her required victory. “I knew, for sure, it would be tough here because the players are strong and whoever I play in the semifinals it will be difficult, but I’m ready,” Suarez Navarro said. Germany’s Andrea Petkovic is the second player from the Sredets group to advance to the semifinals today when she will play Garbine Muguruza of Spain. Nervous In her last group match, the 21-year old Spaniard defeated Alize Cornet 6-3, 7-5 to become the only player at the tournament with 3 wins in the round robin. Cornet had a 4-1 lead in the second set, but was unable to stop Muguruza recovering before winning in straight sets. “In the second set, I was more nervous because I thought: “I am so close to win.” In the Serdika group’s last match, Italy’s Flavia Pennetta whipped Karolina Pliskova from the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-3 and will face Suarez Navarro in the semifinals. The more experienced Pennetta needed 65 minutes to edge the 22-year-old Pliskova who replaced top-seeded Ekaterina Makarova. The Russian pulled out of the tournament on Thursday due to a back injury. This eight-player season-ending tournament is for players who have won one or more of the WTA International events during the year but failed to qualify for the WTA Finals, which was staged in Singapore last week. This six-year-old tournament will move to Zhuhai, China, next year after a threeyear run in Sofia. Formula One urged to tackle cost crisis AUSTIN, Texas: Sauber principal Monisha Kaltenborn has urged Formula One’s decision makers to act in the sport’s best interests and tackle a looming crisis after two teams went into administration in the space of a week. Speaking after the governing FIA said the predicament of Marussia and Caterham showed the need for cost-cutting measures, Kaltenborn said she was ‘beyond frustration’ with how the situation had developed. “It’s one thing to just talk about this terrible scenario that some teams are not going to be there but for the sport and the people responsible for the sport to have let it come that far is extremely disturbing,” she said at the US Grand Prix on Thursday. “Some stakeholders and people are just not willing to understand where the problem lies,” added the Indian-born principal, whose own Swissbased team is facing considerable financial challenges. “What we really need to look at, and we as a team have been saying for so long, is you have to get the figures right in the sport. I think it’s a real shame that we have turnovers of billions of dollars and as a sport, as a community, we are not capable of making sure that 11 teams survive.” Formula One has annual turnover in excess of $1.5-billion but more than half that goes to the commercial rights holder, with private equity group CVC the largest shareholder. The teams share some 47.5 percent but only the top 10 get a share of the prize money and payments are based on performance and vary considerably. Warned Former FIA president Max Mosley warned this week that more teams could go bust unless the revenues were shared more equally to ensure all could compete. The FIA issued a statement on Thursday questioning the “economic balance” of the championship and pointing out that it had warned repeatedly of the need to cut costs. Caterham and Marussia, both tail-end teams, are absent from this weekend’s race in Austin and in danger of folding completely due to considerable debts. That leaves just nine teams and 18 cars, the lowest at a race weekend since 2005. The FIA announced last year that it wanted to introduce a cost cap in 2015, but in April the governing body’s president Jean Todt said the plan had been scrapped because the leading six teams, who form part of the decision-making F1 strategy group, were opposed. Todt said then that the governing body could not impose a cost cap and measures would have to be introduced instead through the sporting regulations. Commercial supremo Bernie Ecclestone has given both teams dispensation to miss races while they try to find buyers. The Brazilian Grand Prix is the weekend after Austin, with Abu Dhabi the final race later in November. Teams that miss races are, however, in breach of contractual obligations to compete in the entire championship and also forfeit prize money payments.